Wire twister

ABSTRACT

A wire twisting tool that is used with and powered by a standard nutrunner. The twisting tool bolts onto the nutrunner and has a radially slotted twisting gear to receive the wires to be twisted. The slotted gear is rotated through intermediate gearing driven by the driver of the nutrunner. The nutrunner is of the right angle drive type, so that the axis of its driver is parallel to the axis of the twisting gear.

United States Patent Palms [451 Mar. 21, 1972 54] WIRE TWISTER 1,717,041 6/1929 Keeler ..140/119 1,406,715 2/1922 Akard ..140/120 [72] Inventor: Joseph X. Palms, 873 Notre Dame, Grosse Pointe, Mich. 48236 [22] Filed: Mar. 4, 1970 [21] App1.No.: 16,395

[52] US. Cl ..140/119 [51] Int. Cl. ..B21f 15/04 [58] Field ofSearch ..140/93 A,93.6 ,118,l19,120, 140/122, 149, 36, 52, 54, 56, 57

[56] References Cited 'UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,438,650 12/1922 Johnson ..140/119 Primary Examiner-Lowell A. Larson Attorney-Harness, Dickey & Pierce [57] ABSTRACT A wire twisting tool that is used with and powered by a standard nutrunner. The twisting tool bolts onto the nutrunner and has a radially slotted twisting gear to receive the wires to be twisted. The slotted gear is rotated through intermediate gearing driven by the driver of the nutrunner. The nutrunner is of the right angle drive type, so that the axis of its driver is parallel to the axis of the twisting gearv 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures WIRE TWISTER SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates, generally, to wire twisting tools and particularly to portable, power operated wire twisters adapted to a wide variety of uses such as tensioning tie down wires for heavy objects.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a wire twister which is capable of engaging a plurality of wire strands and rotating them through a number of turns to achieve a desired tensioning of the wires.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a wire twister which is used as an attachment to a conventional right angle drive nutrunner.

These and other objects are accomplished by a construction which is of rugged yet light weight design, which is reliable in performance, which is easy to use and maintain and which can be manufactured at a reasonable cost.

The device includes a housing in which a plurality of meshing gears are journaled. It is fastened to a nutrunner which has a driver disposed at a 90 orientation with respect to its handle. The nutrunner driver engages a pinion gear of the twister to rotate a wire twisting gear. The wire twisting gear is radially slotted and is journaled in a circular opening of the twister housing which has a slot design to align with the slot of the twisting gear. When the slots of the gear and the ring are aligned, the wires to be twisted can be inserted therein and the nutrunner operated to twist the wires.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a plan view with parts broken away of a wire twister constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the wire twister illustrated in FIG. I as taken substantially along the line 2-2 thereof and with the wire twister shown mounted on a nutrunner;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the slotted wire twisting gear which forms a part ofthe wire twister of FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is an elevational view on a reduced scale of the nutrunner which is partially shown in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, a wire twisting tool is shown as including a housing 12 having a slot 14 extending inwardly from its forward end 16. A wire twisting gear 18, a pair of idler gears and 22 and a drive pinion 24 are journaled in the housing 12. The housing 12 includes a base 26 and a cover 28 held together by fasteners 29. A slotted bushing 27 is fitted in the cover 28 and has a bore 30 coaxial with a bore 31 in the base 26. The gear 18 has a cylindrical outer surface 32 which is journaled at its opposite ends in the bores 30 and 31. The twisting gear 18 has teeth 33 projecting radially outwardly from the gear surface 32. Inner surfaces 34 and 35 of the cover 28 and base 26, respectively, engage opposite ends of the teeth 33 and axially locate the twisting gear. The twisting gear 18 also has a radial slot 36 which extends both axially through the gear and inwardly from the teeth 33 and surface 32. Thus, the slot 36 is always open to the bores 30 and 31 and will register with the slot 14 when the twisting gear is in a given angular position. When the gear is in such angular position the tool may be inserted over a row of wires to be twisted so that the wires will lie in side-by-side relation in the slot 36. The slot 36 desirably possesses a width which is less than twice the diameter of the wires to be twisted, thereby preventing the complete overlapping of such wires within the slot.

The drive train for the twisting gear 18 includes a pair of idler gears20, 22 which are mounted on a pair of shafts 37 journaled in the housing 12, as best seen in FIG. 2. The gears 20 and 22 both mesh with the twisting gear 18 and are both driven by a pinion 24. The pinion 24 has an integral shaft 38 provided with a shouldered recess 39 at one end thereof. A grease fitting 49 is provided in the housing 12 for periodically lubricating the working parts.

The power source with which the twisting tool 12 is used consists of what is commonly called a nutrunner. Such a nutrunner is made by the Cleco Pneumatic Division of G. W. Murphy Industries, Inc. of Houston, Texas and is called a No. 17 right angle tool. This tool has an air motor 5], but a suitable tool might also use an electric motor. The nutrunner 52 is shown as having a driver 50 matingly engageable with the shaft end 39. The driver 50 is journaled in a head 54 of the nutrunner for rotation about an axis 53. The head projects at a right angle from a neck 56 of the nutrunner. The neck 56 extends from one end of a clutch 55 which is formed as a cylindrical extension of the motor 51. A handle 57 is located at the end of the nutrunner opposite the neck 56. The neck 56, clutch 55, motor 51 and handle 57 are all externally cylindrical and are concentric with what may be termed the longitudinal axis 59 of the nutrunner.

The housing cover 28 has welded thereto a pair of flat brackets 60 disposed parallel to one another and parallel to the axis 53. The brackets 60 have seats 61 conformably engageable with one side of the nutrunner neck 56. A pair of retainers 62 fit over the opposite side of the neck 56 and are joined to the brackets 60 by screws 63. Tightening of the screws 63 securely clamps the twisting tool 12 to the neck 56 with the axis of rotation of the twisting gear 18 disposed perpendicular to the nutrunners longitudinal axis, which makes the use of the tool highly convenient.

The operation of the twisting tool 12 will be readily apparent. The wires to be twisted are inserted through the slot 14 and into the slot 36. The motor 51 is then energized to rotate the driver 50. This turns the pinion'24, the idler gears 22 and the twisting gear 18. During most of each rotation of the gear 18, its slot 36 is closed by the bushing 27 and the wall of the bore 31. When the slot 36 registers with the slot 14, the force applied to the tool by the operator will hold the wires in place. The wires can be twisted until the tension thereon causes the clutch 55 to slip.

The present invention has a wide range of uses such as securing equipment, automobiles or other heavy objects in place on a railroad car or other vehicle during shipment. The wires to be twisted are passed through or around any protruding part, such as the axle of the object to be secured and also through or around stationary hooks or the like on a railroad car, or other carriers on which the object is to be secured. The wires are then tightened by the twisting tool. The wires are inexpensive and are discarded when they are removed. This prevents possible loss of chains, toggles and other expensive tie down devices.

I claim:

1. A wire twisting tool comprising a housing having a generally flat base and a generally flat cover fastened to said base, an opening disposed in said housing and open to a peripheral surface thereof, a slotted twisting gear journaled for rotation in said opening, wherein said slot has a width which is less than twice the diameter of the wires to be twisted, a driving gear journaled in said housing with its axis parallel to the axis of said twisting gear and arranged to drive said twisting gear, wherein said gears are confined between said base and said cover with the axis of said gears being perpendicular to said base and said cover, said driving gear having a shouldered shaft portion disposed externally of said housing and bracket means for securing the wire twisting tool to motor means having a driver releasably and matingly engageable with said shouldered shaft portion to rotate said driving gear.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said opening disposed in the forward end of said housing is circular.

3. The invention as set forth in claim I wherein said slot extends radially of the gear.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said bracket means has a seat conformably engageable with a neck portion of said motor means.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 1 including a pair of idler gears meshing with said driving gear and also meshing with said twisting gear.

6. The invention as set forth in claim 4 wherein said bracket means comprises a pair of spaced plates arranged parallel to the axis of said driving gear and twisting gear. 

1. A wire twisting tool comprising a housing having a generally flat base and a generally flat cover fastened to said base, an opening disposed in said housing and open to a peripheral surface thereof, a slotted twisting gear journaled for rotation in said opening, wherein said slot has a width which is less than twice the diameter of the wires to be twisted, a driving gEar journaled in said housing with its axis parallel to the axis of said twisting gear and arranged to drive said twisting gear, wherein said gears are confined between said base and said cover with the axis of said gears being perpendicular to said base and said cover, said driving gear having a shouldered shaft portion disposed externally of said housing and bracket means for securing the wire twisting tool to motor means having a driver releasably and matingly engageable with said shouldered shaft portion to rotate said driving gear.
 2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said opening disposed in the forward end of said housing is circular.
 3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said slot extends radially of the gear.
 4. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said bracket means has a seat conformably engageable with a neck portion of said motor means.
 5. The invention as set forth in claim 1 including a pair of idler gears meshing with said driving gear and also meshing with said twisting gear.
 6. The invention as set forth in claim 4 wherein said bracket means comprises a pair of spaced plates arranged parallel to the axis of said driving gear and twisting gear. 